Dairy & Beef News

Dumfries farm K & M Jamieson uses an adapted compact TMR ration for its Holstein herd and has seen benefits to mix consistency, time and fuel savings since upgrading to a 28m3 BvL V-Mix diet feeder last summer.

Entries have opened for the 2022 NMR RABDF Gold Cup competition, which looks to highlight dairy businesses for all-around excellence.

Flies can cause substantial production losses and welfare issues on livestock farms. Max Hardy, of Rutland Vets, provides guidance on prevention and management, and explores the option of biological control coupled with traditional pour ons.

This month, livestock editor Sarah Kidby spoke to Hannah Fitzsimmonds at LLM Farm Vets, part of the VetPartners group, about reducing the risk of digital dermatitis (DD) in dairy herds.

RABDF has launched the new service, which is free for members and offers practical resources to help recruit and manage employees.

Research has revealed substantial benefits to using ketoprofen for the treatment of pain and lameness associated with digital dermatitis in cattle.

The arrival of spring grass and turnout time is welcomed with open arms by many dairy farmers. And nothing beats the sight of cows out grazing. But the downside of turnout can be milk fat depression, particularly in spring and early summer.

The cost of calf pneumonia is considerable on UK farms, with well-known implications for rearing costs, profitability and lifetime yield. While vaccination is key to control plans, live intranasal vaccines can offer enhanced protection and bridge the immunity gap in the first few months of life.

Supermarket sales of all dairy products remain higher than they were pre-pandemic, with an extra 302 million litres of milk bought last year compared to 2019, according to AHDB figures.

Taking place from 2nd – 9th February, the event celebrates the progress made since the launch of the GB Calf Strategy and has seen a range of experts offering guidance to improve calf performance.

Calf scour is significant when it comes to the future health and performance of every herd, but controlling it can be a challenge. Virbac experts take a comprehensive look at the causes and multifactorial approaches to control.

Calves are an expensive commodity nowadays, and to successfully rear healthy calves, prevention of disease is a better financial bet than firefighting clinical outbreaks and attempting expensive treatment. Boosting of gut health and the general immune system, together with avoidance of calf scour and calf pneumonia is of paramount importance to avoid a negative financial impact.